I love my Anet A8. It's a RepRap style, DIY build. So you need to be a little handy to put it together properly, but if you're on this forum, chances are you'll have no problems. The print quality is fair

Was looking on getting this one as a budget start. I have heard some rumors about the poor quality of prints with Anet. How is it in practice?

I love my Anet A8. It's a RepRap style, DIY build. So you need to be a little handy to put it together properly, but if you're on this forum, chances are you'll have no problems. The print quality is fair

Was looking on getting this one as a budget start. I have heard some rumors about the poor quality of prints with Anet. How is it in practice?

Rumors are true poor quality. What do u expect from a printer that kost almost as much as decent 5x nema stepper motors. You need to upgrade aloud to get some decent prints. Therefore i advise you to save up and go for the prusa mk2s that only now 619 euros. And that is cheap.

Whooo Stop befor ask in a post. First use the search or the wiki befor you make a topic.. Just saying.........

I love my Anet A8. It's a RepRap style, DIY build. So you need to be a little handy to put it together properly, but if you're on this forum, chances are you'll have no problems. The print quality is fair

Was looking on getting this one as a budget start. I have heard some rumors about the poor quality of prints with Anet. How is it in practice?

As a professional industrial designer, I've worked with dozens of printers, but got the A8 just for my own personal interests, so I could deal with a .5mm inaccuracy every now and then.
I've been nothing but happy with the results. Works great, better resolution than I expected, I feel confident leaving it alone for hours at a time and it's taken every filament I've tried in stride, even cheap-o PLA. My only complaint is that it's pretty loud, especially at higher speeds, but I built an enclosure for ABS anyway, which mitigates the problem. I run mine at about 85mm/s. Haven't lost any print quality even up at 100, but will refrain from going that fast until I upgrade to Bowden extruders.

After speaking with a number of other owners, it seems there's a bit of inconsistency between units. For example, I didn't need to make any modifications to get results equivalent to my company Prusa, but my friend in Ballard has printed numerous upgrades and is still having some issues with long bridging and layer wobble.

My advice would be that if you are strapped for cash and just want something that will get you a workable baseline, get one. You may win the lottery and get much higher value than you pay for, or you'll get a cheap base that you'll need to sand to get the way you want. If you have a little bigger budget and/or desperately need 1:1 precision with your models for threads, stock fasteners etc, It's still okay, but a higher end brand would be worth the investment.

I have recently purchased a used FlashForge Creator Pro and am very happy with the results. Was looking for a easy to use first 3D printer and the FlashForge meet this criteria. The closed off unit prevents dust and helps with noise. Also the FlashPrint software available for free on website is easy to use. Just import .stl files, tweak in easy mode or advance and print (slice) result .x3g files ready for printer. The only option I wish it had would be WiFi. To gets prints out I use two SD disks and swipe them out to keep prints going. On a side note, whatever printer you get, it's amazing the fun these things are. Screen and buttons brackets are just a start. Drop over to the Thingiverse or Pinshape website and browse the thousands of designs that you can download for free. Need something specific, download the Blender software for free, import a .stl file so you don't have to start from scratch or design you own model and export to .stl file to print.

This thread is a bit older but I’d like to add that there seems to be a real danger of the Anet a8 catching fire. It‘s supposedly not built in a safe way and you need some extensive modifications to get it safe.

Obviously many people will never have any problems, but 3D printers often run at night or when no one is at home.

When I bought mine, the CR-10 was a good, safe(r) Printer, but please do your own research.

I went with a printer kit from Folgertech (folgertech.com) a couple of years ago for my first printer. I went with their 2020 i3 kit (https://folgertech.com/products/folger- ... rinter-kit). This kit probably isn't the most bang for your buck compared to more recent printers which have more features, but it always gave decent print quality in stock build form. I can't comment on the stock firmware, as I only ran that firmware for the initial test prints before updating to the latest marlin version at the time. They have a newer printer (FT-5) that offers as roughly a 12" cube print volume for about $500 dollars that seems to be a really good value.

My printer now is essentially a custom designed printer off of the original folgertech i3 2020 frame with elements from the Prusa i3 MK2 & MK3, and some custom components of my own design. Mesh bed leveling with a BL touch, Genuine e3D V6, increased z-height with motors moved to the bottom of the frame. It's current state is shown on the attached image.

My next printer is probably going to look similar to the CR10, but with genuine e3D and openbuilds components, and potentially use a prusa MK3 extruder assembly and drive gears. I'm currently designing it and will probably build it later this year.

This thread is a bit older but I’d like to add that there seems to be a real danger of the Anet a8 catching fire. It‘s supposedly not built in a safe way and you need some extensive modifications to get it safe.

Obviously many people will never have any problems, but 3D printers often run at night or when no one is at home.

My Anet A8 is still doing fine, to make it safer you should consider these upgrades:

The firmware on this printer has some security checks disabled; it will keep heating the hotbed for example after the wire come loose. Upgrading the firmware to Marlin 1.1.x enables security checks again; it will stop heating after a certain temperature is reached.

The heat bed connector is not suitable for the current going through, it will burn at some point. Soldering the wires to the hotbed directly and adding a cable strain relief makes it more reliable.